AUSTRALIAN prop forward Craig Stapleton put in arguably his best performance for Salford as the Reds maintained their unbeaten league record with a draw at Sheffield Eagles.

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A LATE rally kept Salford’s unbeaten National League One record intact.

But, considering the strength of their squad, the Reds should be playing a lot better than this.

Coach Shaun McRae was far from happy with his team’s performance in front of a bumper 1,058 crowd when he spoke to the Press after Friday night’s game.

The Reds had plenty of possession in dangerous areas of the field. But they ran up too many blind alleys and their defensive work often left a lot to be desired as well, especially in the first half.

Sheffield, who were far more clinical in attack, may have had home advantage and started the game third in the table but, man for man, they are not in Salford’s league.

So for the Eagles to be 24-10 ahead after 50 minutes of play was borderline embarrassing from Salford’s point of view.

To Salford’s credit, they managed to dig deep to pull off an impressive comeback and prove that there is a never-say-die attitude among the players.

The Reds dominated the second half and they eventually overcame Sheffield’s spirited resistance by scoring two tries in the final three minutes via Jordan Turner and speedster Paul White.

There was just seconds left on the clock when White, who was full of running out wide, levelled the scores with a fantastic try in the corner.

But they were denied victory when Stefan Ratchford dragged his conversion attempt agonisingly wide.

Ratchford was also off target with the boot after Turner had touched down on 77 minutes. That was a much easier proposition but, with time running out for Salford, he understandably rushed and fluffed his kick.

Turner also failed to improve a try as the Reds drew the match despite scoring five tries to Sheffield’s four.